The game saw very limited release in North American arcades, as Sega of America considered the game's portrayal of Sonic and his friends to be too violent, and feared it gave Sonic a negative image. Nevertheless, a new fighting game was later released years later for the
Game Boy Advance called
Sonic Battle.
A
Sega Saturn version of the game was also announced but never released; the game was never ported to home consoles until
Sonic Gems Collection, for the
GameCube and, in Europe/Japan, the
PlayStation 2.